Don Beeglès

Trump is purposefully trying to bring an end to NATO. He couldn't do it by a hostile takeover of Greenland so mow he's insulting ever man & woman in uniform who fought along side the US is Afghanistan. He truly is Putin's puppet

Signs of #Spring in sleepy Bedfordshire . . . the #rhubarb is coming through in my dad's chimney pot 😀

The shrine of #StAlban at St Albans cathedral #Hertfordshire #UK

Shadow on the beach at Dawlish UK

Shadow on the beach at Dawlish after Storm Bram
#photography #enigma

Stormy moonlight in Dawlish
#Devon #UK #seawall

Sadly, poor light stopped play 😄

Great White #Egret nabs a huge fish . . . but Grey #Heron spoils it . . .
#CollegeLake #Tring #birds #photography #Canon

Delighted to publish this personal essay by me and John: Getting Britain out of the hole.

We wanted to write something quite readable that covers the big picture of the UK’s economic struggles. Hopefully we’ve managed at least one of those!
@johnspringford.bsky.social

getting-out-of-the-hole.uk

No sign of #Aurora in Dunstable tonight

Defend the BBC before it’s gone – an open letter The BBC isn’t perfect – but it’s ours. If we don’t defend it now, we may lose a cornerstone of British democracy

"The BBC isn’t perfect – but it’s ours. If we don’t defend it now, we may lose a cornerstone of British democracy."

The preposterous #McSweeney must go immediately, if not sooner.
#Labour

My hens are less colourful but just as characterful 😁

Malala looking furtive on the duvet this morning
#dogs

. . . its a triangle of perpetrators inflicting victimhood on each other. There's nothing to choose between them in their awful dysfunction and nastiness. Poor old dad.
How #JoeOrton extracts comedy from this is a marvel.

Here to see "Entertaining Mr Sloane"
#YoungVic #London #Theatre

No sign at all of flare but the M typ240 has blow the highlight big time.

This was a R6Mk2 body and I think it's found the limit of the extended zoom. The combination is unwieldy for me in any event.

Meadow vista through my #Zeiss Distagon 17mm ultrawide lens.
Lovely!
#photography #Leica

Mountain ash leaves in the Autumn sunshine
#photography #contrejour #Canon #Bedfordshire

a field maple covered in ivy surrounded by colourful leaves in the autumn sunshine

Field maple in the autumn sunshine
#photography #nature #Distagon #Leica #contrajour

Yes, the AF is a factor and so is the 2x waggle shake of the lens as you wave it around trying to get/keep the birds centre frame 😜

I can't quite see the #glider pilot . . . .
#Dunstable #photography

Almost all our local grey #squirrels are in fact jet black. We rarely see a grey and (of course) red is entirely absent.
#Bedfordshire #nature #photography

red kite

red kite

buzzard?

kestrel about to pounce

Out and about this afternoon with a 2x extender on my zoom lens doing test photos on local #raptors. I'm not convinced by the extender (fringing, softness, unwieldiness) and will likely exchange it . . . . the 100-400 L Mk2 is enough by itself 👍
#birds #Canon #photography #Bedfordshire

Rannoch Moor from the Caledonian sleeper, heading south into the night.
#Scotland #railtravel #photography #Canon

To the east this Misty morning. Large fir trees on the left in silhouette. The fence off areas of the yard down low and mist in blue skies above

misty morning

The last of the roses in my Bedfordshire garden
#gardening #photography #Leica #Voigtlander

At nine years old, his world is a frayed jacket passed down from an uncle lost to the snows, boots mended with sinew, and that single, sacred treasure: a battered deck of playing cards, scavenged from a tourist's discard pile in Leh.

No toys forged in distant factories, no screens glowing with borrowed dreams. Just 52 rectangles of faded cardboard, edges curled from a thousand shuffles by hands before his. The kings and queens stare back with imperial indifference, their crowns mocking the barren horizon. But in Tenzin's grip, they're alchemy.

One card missing—the three of hearts, torn away in a storm. He doesn't mourn it; absence is a lesson too. In this vast emptiness, where possessions are burdens carried on weary backs, that deck is freedom. It fits in a pocket, weighs nothing, yet holds infinities: games to banish boredom, stories to trade with strangers, even fuel for the fire if winter turns cruel.

Come dusk, as the family gathers around a dung fire, he transforms the deck into music. Pressing the stack to his lips, he blows gentle breaths through the gaps, coaxing a reedy hum that echoes the Himalayan winds. It's not a harmonica, but in his world, it sings lullabies of forgotten valleys. Changthang means Eastern Flat Land; it is the land of nomads located in the east of Leh on the Chinese border.

Imagine it. No toys forged in distant factories, no screens glowing with borrowed dreams. Just 52 rectangles of faded cardboard, edges curled from a thousand shuffles by hands before his. In a life stripped to essentials, imagination is the ultimate wealth.

the seeds of Stinking Iris, Bedfordshire UK

Stinking iris comes good in #Autumn
#IrisFoetidissima #Leica #Rokkor

Wild Service leaf litter in #Bedfordshire
#autumn #BlueSkyMonday #photography